Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



2 Sheer5-Sheet l.

WN. H. ELLIOT. Breach-loading Fire-arm.

Patenned'May 13 1862.

v No. 35,284.

".FEI'ERS, FHOTQMTHOGRAPHER. WAsmNGTO-mn 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Vv. H. ELLIOT.'

NV PETERS, PHOTO-LITHUGRAPER, WASHINGYON. D. C.

nirnn rares VILLIAM IfI. ELLIOT, OF ILATTSBURG, NEV YORK.

Spccilication forming part of Letters Patent No. dated May lll, le`62.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, XVM. H. ELLIOT, of Plattsburg, in the county of Clinton, in the State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Breech-Loading Fire-Arm; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Similar letters of reference indicate the same devices in all the iigures.

To enable others skilled inthe arts to comprehend, make, and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its nature, construction, and operation.

The nature of my invention consists in the employment, construction, and arrangement of certain devices by which I produce a breechloading fire-arm which is more efiicient, more convenient, and more compact than any here'- tofore used.

Figure lis arepresentation of my improved nre-arm, showing the stock, breech-piece7 and barrel in section and the movingparts in elevation. Fig. 2 is a section of the breechpiece at dotted lines w, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the sliding breech. Fig. alc is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the cartridge and clutch for drawing the same. Fig., 6 is a side elevation of these devices. Fig. 7, Sheet 2, is the same as Fig. l, showing the loading-chamber open for the reception of a cartridge.

c is the stock; b, barrel; c, fixed breechpiece; c', projections or ribs; c, surface for the tail of the sliding breech to rest upon; cZ, sliding breechj d, cap of the same forming a part of it; d, shoulders upon the sliding breech that rest upon the under side of the ribs c'; cZ, tail oi' sliding breech that rests upon surface c, e, clutch for drawing the cartridge; e', arms of the same 5 f, screw which attaches it tothe sliding breech; g, cartridge; g', its resting-place upon the sliding breech; h, contraction in the diameter of the chamber; t, firing-pin; fi, head of the same; le, hammer; k', point upon the sliding breech where the nose of the hammer rests while loading; Z, Z,

Y g, e, o', and p', dotted lines showing the position occupied by the hammer-nose, sliding breech, and its cap, cartridge-shell, clutch,

and the two joints of the guard-lever when the lever is depressed for the purpose of drawl ing the cartridge-shell and opening the chamber; m, guard-lever; a, link attaching' it to the breech-pin; o, joint attaching the sliding breech to the' guard-lever; p, joint attaching the guard-lever to the link; q, joint attaching the link to the breech-piece; o', trigger; s, scarpin; s, point of contact between trigger and scar-pin; t, arm of scar; u., catch for holding the guard-lever; c, spring of the same; a', ring on guard-lever; fs, stop for head ofscrewf.

The process of loading and liring this arm is as follows: The thumb of the right hand is placed in the ring of the guard, which is then depressed until the joiutp is brought to p', joint o to o', front of sliding breech to Z, clutch c by means of screw j' to c, cartridgeshell to g, cap d and hammer-nose to Z, all the parts assuming the position more clearly represented in Fig. 7, when, upon rolling the arm upon oneside, the cartridge-shell will drop out of the chamber or opening produced by drawing back the sliding breech, which may be called the loading chamber-J A whole cartridge may then be placed in the loadingchamber, as shown in Fig. 7, and driven into the chamber of the barrel by bringing the guard-lever to the position represented at on, Fig. l. As the sliding breech is carried backward, the hammer is carried back also till its nose rises above, slides over, and rests upon the top oi' the cap, as represented at dotted lines Z. NVhile in this position it ceases to act upon the sliding breech to throw it forward, but holds, by the power of the mainspring, all the parts from moving while the cartridgeshell is being thrown out anda new cartridge is placed in the loading-chamber. As the sliding breech is carried forward again for the purpose of driving the cartridge into the chamber of the barrel, the cap (Z/ passes forward and the hammer falls a little and catches uppn the half-cock notch upon the tumbler of the lock. By the operation of these devices the hammer is left after loading in the safest po'- sition for handling the arm, and in the most convenient position for iiring it.

By reference to the drawings it may be seen that the guard-,lever m is placed between the sliding breech d and link n, and that link a is placed between guard-lever m and Xed breech-piece c in the rearof that portion of my improved arm, the barrel and stock or the guard-lever which sustains the recoil. In

breech of the arm are fixed in relation to each other, the same as the common muzzle-loading arm, the sliding breech being moved by what is known as a toggle-joint,77 and makes its motions within the breech-piece entirely independent -of the stock or barrel; and that part ofthe toggle-joint which is pivoted to the sliding breech forms a portion of the lever -countersunk to e', so that when the sliding breech passes backward the clutch does not move till its screw-head strikesthe bottom of the countersink at z, when the clutch `also begins to move back, carrying with it the carbridge-shell. Ly this constructionand arrangement of these devices, the clutch has considerably less motion than the sliding breech; still it is drawn sufficiently far back to clear the cartridge-shell from the chamber of the barrel, yet not so far but that the head of the cartridge is seen to fall in the rear of the arms of the clutch when the cartridge is placed in the loading-chamber, and as the sliding breech moves forward to close the chamber, the clutch remains stationary till these two devices and the cartridge assume the position they are to occupy in relation to each other at the moment of ring, when they move forward together, carrying the cartridge into the barrel-chamber. By this arrangement and operation of the sliding breech and clutch in relation 'to each other, the cartridge, though carelessly thrown' into the loading-chamber, is caught and held between the clutch and sliding breech in its true positionbeforeit moves forward into the barrel-chamber.

For the purposeof obtaining greater strength and efficiency in the clutch, the arms of that device are made to form a part of the bore of the barrel-chamber, extending forward to a considerable distance, and laterally, so as to lpartly encompass the rear end of the cartridge. Vhen the loading-chamber is opened and the clutch drawn back for the purpose of receiving the cartridge, the clutch is so arranged lin relation to the other parts of the breech of the arm that the cartridge is laid directly into its open arms, which so far encompass the cartridge-shell that in being drawn out the shell cannot 'rise sufficiently to get clear of the clutch till it is out of the chamber of the barrel, thus making .the process of drawing the shell a sure one.

When the trigger is drawn back by the finger, its rear extremity strikes the lower end of pin s at s, causing pin s to rise against the arm tof the sear and discharge the arm. The trigger is attached to and swings back and forth with the guard-lever, and, 'being employed with pin s, is not required -to project the recoil.

cause the shoulder d to rise with great force out upon the upper side of the vguard-lever when the guard-lever is brought into the position represented in Fig.` 1. The joint p passes a little by a line from o to q, so that the recoil tends to keep the lever in its position, and when the lever is so far depressed that the joints o, p, and q are in a direct line the trigger will be so far removed from the pin s that the arm cannot be discharged by it.

By reference to the drawings it may be seen that that portion of the barrel-chamber forward of h is made to fit the forward end of the cartridge-shell exactly, while the rear portion of the chamber fits the cartridge-shell loosely. This chamber is not tapering, but parallel and of two diameters. By this form all the advantages of a close-fitting chamber are obtained, as the forward and smaller portion of it is sufficient to prevent the escape of gas around the cartridge-shell, while the cartridge will pass into 7L without force,.and the shell will fallout itself after being drawn a little distance.

The sliding breech is made in two parts. The lower part,- d, as may be seen in Figs. 3 and 4, is a solid piece of metal, enough thicker at the bottom than at the top to form strong shoulders at d. These shoulders rest upon the under side of ribs c with the breech-piece, and the tail of the sliding breech c rests upon the surface c on the breech-piece, the recoil of the cartridge being against the upper portion of the sliding breech, while the resistance to that recoil is in o-a point considerably below The tendency of these forces is to against the ribs c', while the tail of the sliding breech is thrown down upon the surface c with equal force. This peculiar construction of the sliding breech,with the arrangement of its bearing-surfaces and those of the breechpiece, when taken into consideration with the direction of the recoil and the points of resistance, form an important improvement in this arm, as by it I am enabled to construct in one solid piece all that 'part ofthe sliding breech which receives the recoil and has upon it the several points of resistance, while I retain the advantage of arranging the lever m and link a directly under the sliding breech, and of having the breech-piece and also the sliding breech so constructed that they cannot yield to the recoil without breaking through agreat depth of solid metal.

The employment of a firing-pin, t', in connection with a breech that has a sliding motion parallel with the bore of the barrel when so arranged that its rear end projects out at the top of the sliding breech infa convenient position to be struck by a hammer which is attached to a side lock-plate and swings over the top ofthe arm, while its forward end projects out at the fgrward end of the sliding breech at apoint low enough down to strike the cartridge, has a peculiar advantage, as it serves the double purpose of carrying the hammer to half-cock, andof exploding the cartridge.

Having fully described my invention, what I wish to have secured to me by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. So constructing and arranging the sliding breech and hammer in relation to each other that when the former is thrown back the hammer will cease to act upon it to throw it forward, but will hold it from moving by a downward pressure while the cartridge is being placed in the loading-chamber, as herein` set forth.

2. The, employment of a toggle-joint for moving the sliding breech when that part of said joint which forms a portion ofthe lever m is pivoted to the sliding breech, and when the other part of said joint is pivoted toV a fixed IVM. H. ELLIOT.

Witnesses:

E. ROCHE, HIRAM IWI. STEVENS. 

